GORILLAZ have let slip to NME.COM that their new album will be called ‘DEMON DAYS’.

The follow-up to 2001’s self-titled debut is set for release in May and was recorded at the group’s own Kong Studios in Essex.

Drummer Russell Hobbs told NME.COM: “We've noticed that some people have picked up on 'Reject False Icons' as being the new Gorillaz album title. This was actually more like the motto we used while we were working on the tracks to keep us fresh.”

He added: “The album title now is 'Demon Days'. We've pretty well finished. Noodle and Dangermouse are just trimming the last bits of the back and then this cut should be razor sharp. I guess we're looking at a May date for this thing to drop.”

The title has, according to guitarist Noodle, a number of different meanings. She said: “Its’ interpretation is completed by the instinct of the listener. In one sense the Demon is a disease and the disease is an absence of thought, a state where people make action without consideration. This is the invisible evil, with a million eyes. This is the return of the ogre, the rise of the beats. Its time is now.”

“The moment we live in has agitated this slumbering giant, the dormant illness,” she explained. “These are the Demon Days, and the land it stalks is the on cusp of a thick fog. In another sense it is time to become the Demon. A time for an action, made with less contemplation, but from a disciplined and considered instinct. Strike with perfection and effect…These are Demon days we exist in. We strike to capture the moment. And hope to contain it, in a balance.”

Gorillaz are rumoured to be releasing ’Feelgood Inc.’ as the first single from ’Demon Days’, which is also expected to hit the shops in May.

“It sounds like someone has taken the first record and coloured it in,” says 2D, frontman and mouthpiece with Gorillaz, of the band’s second album, the surrealy titled We Are Happy Landfill. Recorded at the band’s Kong Studios complex in deepest Essex, it’s both bolder and darker than its acclaimed predecessor.
“Kong was built on an old burial site,” says 2D. “There were odd sounds and smells. That ambience ended up on the LP.”
The world might not have heard anything from the Gorillaz since the end of 2002’s US tour, [Gorillaz-Unofficial’s note: Isle of MTV concert anyone?] but life inside their cartoon universe has been anything but quiet.
“We spent a lot of time in negotiations to do a film,” says guitarist / producer Noodle. “We moved to Hollywood to make it. Things went downhill from there.”
They won’t go into specifics, but there are mutterings of arrests (bassist Murdoc) and breakdowns (man-mountain Russel Hobbs). The events of the past two years had an effect on their real-life counterparts – Blur’s Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett remain the driving forces behind Gorillaz, but partner-in-crime Dan The Automator is no longer involved.
“The curse of Kong Studios ate Dan’s Soul,” says Russel. “he passed the producer’s crown over to Danger Mouse [the DJ behind the infamous Beatles-meets-Jay-Z mash-up The Grey Album].”
With We Are Happy Landfill out in May, Gorillaz are gearing up for a multi-media blitzkrieg – there’s talk of a series of live shows next summer. And that film? It’s still on the cards.
“It’s an Ealing comedy,” says 2D. “Based on four madcap characters on a milk round.”
SLEEVENOTES
Working Title: We Are Happy Landfill
Due: May
Completed Tracks: Dirty Harry, Feel Good Inc, One Red Herring, White Light
Producers: Danger Mouse, Damon Albarn, Noodle
Recorded At: Kong Studios, Essex
Strange But True: The band recently launched a talent search for new collaborators via their website, http://www.gorillaz.com

"Every great band is destroyed by their success: cartoon bands are
no exception."

So says Gorillaz guitarist Noodle, who took the helm for new album
Demon Days, the follow-up to the band's multi-million selling debut
Gorillaz. "Noodle wrote most of this album herself," says drummer
Russel Hobbs. "Murdoc may try and take the credit for it, but from
the basic sketches to the finished album, this was Noodle's vision."

Demon Days will be released by Parlophone on 23rd May, and will be
preceeded by the single Feel Good Inc, released 9th May.

Co-produced by Gorillaz/Damon Albarn and the Grey Album mastermind
Danger Mouse, Demon Days was recorded at the band's own Kong
Studios. The album is a darker and more intense affair than 2001's
Gorillaz, explains Noodle: "The soul of the recording can't avoid
being a manifestation of the time, climate and location of the place
we were in when it was recorded. Consequently the colours are rich,
dark and heavy while the rhythms are clean, strategic and
relentless. It has a consciousness to it."

"Like someone has taken the first album and coloured it in," adds
singer 2D.

Gorillaz reputation for excellence and enthusiasm has secured them a
stellar guest list. Featured on the album are contributions from De
La Soul, Neneh Cherry, Martina Topley-Bird, Roots Manuva, MF Doom,
Ike Turner, Bootie Brown of the Pharcyde, Shaun Ryder, Dennis
Hopper, the London Community Gospel Choir and the San Fernandez
Youth Chorus.

The full tracklisting is as follows:
1.Intro
2.Last Living Souls
3.Kids With Guns
4.O Green World
5.Dirty Harry
6.Feel Good Inc.
7.El Mañana
8.Every Planet We Reach Is Dead
9.November Has Come
10.All Alone
11.White Light
12.DARE
13.Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head
14.Don't Get Lost In Heaven
15.Demon Days

The band is currently shooting a promo for Feel Good Inc. with video
director Jamie Hewlett, starring the track's guest performers De La
Soul alongside Gorillaz.

Gorillaz are Noodle (guitar), 2-D (vocals), Murdoc Nicalls (bass),
and Russel Hobbs (drums). Signed to Parlophone at their very first
gig in 1998, their debut album Gorillaz (2001) has sold 6 million
albums worldwide. Visit the band in their Essex hang-out Kong
Studios at http://www.gorillaz.com
and enter their online talent contest, Search For A Star.